One way valve for use with concrete forms



Oct. 17, 1967 R. E. GROH 3,347,265

ONE WAY VALVE FOR USE WITH CONCRETE FORMS Original Filed Oct. 8, 1963INVENTOR. RICHfxRD E.GROH

BY M57 WW United States Patent 1 Claim. (Cl. 137-5255) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a valve structure specificallydesigned for enabling concrete to be passed between forms from theexterior of the forms such that the forms may be filled from the bottomupwardly and towards this end is designed to assume a generallyelongated triangular shape in cross section. The valve structure itselfcomprises a housing having an enlarged exit opening lying in the planeof one of the forms which form is provided with an opening for receivingthe housing. The exit opening of the housing is provided with aperipheral flange overlapping the periphery of the opening in the form.The housing includes a sloping rear wall extending from an upper portionof this flange and connecting at its lower portion to an end wall facinggenerally upwardly to define the general triangular shape. The end walldefines an inlet port opening. A flap valve structure covers thisopening and is hinged to swing towards the rear sloping end wall in anupward direction when concrete is passed through the port. Thearrangement is such that the concrete is directed inwardly and upwardlyto fill the area between the forms from the bottom up.

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 314,802 filedOct. 8, 1963, and entitled Concrete Process and One-Way Valve Therefor,now abandoned.

This invention relates generally to concrete construction processes andproducts used therewith and more particularly, to a novel process andvalve useful for passing concrete into forms.

In constructing concrete Walls, columns, decks, and so forth, it isconventional to pour the concrete into suitable forms defining thestructure. This concrete is poured from the top into the forms until theforms are filled. As a consequence, air pockets may develop and thus thestructural integrity of the finished concrete structure may be adverselyaffected.

Further, in pouring concrete from the top, ladders or other scaffoldingis required in order to pass the concrete into the upper openingsin theforms. This operation requires several men and may be hazardous if theforms are relatively high or upper floors are to be poured.

With the foregoing in mind, it is a primary object of this invention toprovide a novel process for concrete work and a novel one-way valveuseful in the process in which concrete is pumped into forms from thebottom up rather than the top down.

More particularly, it is the object to provide a valve for concrete toenable concrete to be pumped into a form from the bottom up so that airpockets and the like are eliminated.

Another important object is to provide a concrete valve to enablepumping of concrete from the bottom up where by ladders, scaffolding andthe like are avoided with the attendant advantage of enabling the entireconcrete pouring operation to be carried on from the ground. As aconsequence, less men and less labor are required to the end that aconsiderable savings in costs is realized.

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Briefly, the process of this invention contemplates the steps ofintroducing concrete through an opening in the side or bottom of a formso that the form is filled from the bottom up. The valve for enablingthe process to be carried out in accordance with the invention comprisesa housing having an exit area and an entrance port. The exit area isarranged to be secured about the periphery of an opening cut into thelower portion of the concrete forms. Within the housing there isprovided a flexible flap member secured at one edge adjacent to theentrance port so that the remaining portion of the flap member overliesthe port. The arrangement is such that when the concrete is passedthrough the valve, it will urge the flap in a rearward direction or awayfrom the entrance port so that the concrete may enter the forms from thebottom up. When the pumping operation is complete, the hydrostaticpressure of the concrete between the forms will serve to close theflexible flap member down against the entrance port so that back flow isautomatically checked.

A better understanding of the invention will be had by now referring toone embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating concrete forms andthe novel valve of this invention employed for permitting the pouring ofconcrete from the bottom up;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section of the valve taken inthe direction of the arrows 22 of FIGURE 1; and,

FIGURE 3 is another cross-section taken in the direction of the arrows33 of FIGURE 2 showing portions of the valve.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, there is shown by way of example, concreteforms 10 and 11 which might be employed for forming a wall or similarstructure. In accordance with the invention, the valve is secured withinan opening formed in the lower portion of the form 10. This valve isindicated generally by the numeral 12 and is arranged to connect to asuitable pump hose 13 from a concrete pump and source 14.

Referring particularly to FIGURE 2, the opening within the lower portionof the form 10 is shown at 15. The housing itself is of an elongatedstructure having a sloping rear wall 16 extending from the upper portionof a peripheral flange 17 adapted to be secured to the inside peripheralportion of the opening 15. Suitable nails as in dicated at 18 may beused for this purpose.

As shown, the flange 17 defines an exit opening designated generally bythe numeral 19. At the lower end of the housing there is provided an endwall disposed between the lower end of the sloping rear wall 16 and alower portion of the peripheral flange 17 resulting in an elongatedtriangular shape for the housing as viewed in cross section. This endwall defines an entrance port 20. This entrance port includes a hosecoupling 21 as an integral portion curved slightly as shown. Within thehousing and adapted to overlie the entrance port 20 is a flexible flapmember 22. One edge portion of this flap member is secured to thehousing as by a transverse bar 23 and bolts 24. The arrangement is suchthat the flexible flap 22 may flex or swing towards the rear wall 16 toprovide direct communication to the entrance port 20 as shown by thedotted lines 22'.

It will be noted that the flexible flap 22 is of greater dimensions thanthe entrance port 20 so that the flap will completely cover the entranceport when it is down or in its solid line position. In order to preventback pressure from pushing the flexible flap member 22 completelythrough the entrance port 20 into the coupling portion 21, there isprovided a rigid plate 25. As shown, this plate 25 is secured to oneside of the flexible flap 22, preferably the rear or upper side asdepicted in FIGURE 2. This plate cooperates with a smaller rigid plate26, the two plates being secured together by a through bolt 27. Thedimensions of the rigid plate 25 are greater than the dimensions of theentrance port 20 so that the marginal edges of the entrance port 20 areover-lapped by the periphery of the rigid plate 25. However, the rigidplate 25 is designed not to interfere with the securing bar 23 and bolts25 so that the flexible flap member 22 may still flex.

With the foregoing arrangement, it is not possible for back pressure topush the flexible flap 22 into the entrance port 20 because of theoversized rigid plate 25. Thus the pressure will be exerted on the plate25 which will tend to sandwich the outer portions of the flexible flap22 against the periphery of the entrance port 20.

FIGURE 3 is taken in the direction of the arrows 3-3 of FIGURE 2 inorder to illustrate one form of the rigid plate 25 and flap 22. Asshown, there are provided two bolts 24 for the bar 23 so that a hingeline is defined for the flap 22. The entrance port outline is indicatedby the dotted lines 20 and it will be clear that the rigid plate 25 isof greater dimensions than the entrance port.

In operation, an opening is cut in the lower portion of the form asdescribed at 15. The valve housing 12 is then inserted from the insideof the forms through the opening so that the flange 17 will seat aboutthe periphery of the opening. The housing may then be secured in placeby hammering the nails 18 through the flange into the periphery of theopening of the form. The elongated portion of the housing 16 willproject through to the exterior of the form as shown. A suitable pumpinghose such as at 13 in FIGURE 1 may then be threaded to the entrance portby means of the coupling 21.

Concrete 28 is then pumped in the conventional manner from the hose 13.However, in contra-distinction to conventional concrete pouringoperations the concrete will pass through the valve 12, urge the flap 22to its dotted line position 22' and pass into the area between thebottom portions of the form in an inward and upward direction andgradually fill the form from the bottom up. As a consequence, airpockets and the like are avoided. As a further consequence, alloperations may be carried on at ground level and it is not necessary forworkmen to raise concrete to high places to pour the concrete into theupper open portions of the forms. While the forms 10 and 11 in FIGURE 1are shown to be relatively low, in forming a concrete wall they mayextend upwardly for a. considerable distance.

When the forms have been filled with concrete, the pumping operation isterminated and the hydrostatic back pressure exerted by the concrete 28as shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2 will urge the flap 22 from its dotted lineposition 22 to its closed position shown in solid lines. The hose 13 maythen be disconnected from the coupling 21 and after the concrete hashardened, the forms may be removed.

From the foregoing description, it will thus be evident that the presentinvention has provided a greatly improved concrete process and one-wayvalve therefor. While the invention has been described in conjunctionwith the pumping of concrete, it should be understood that the processand valve will be applicable to the pumping of any semi-viscous materialinto forms or similar molds so that such molds may be filled from thebottom upwardly with the attendant advantages as outlined heretofore.

What is claimed is:

A concrete valve adapted to be positioned in an opening in the lowerside portion of form means for enabling pumping of concrete into saidform means from the bottom up, comprising, in combination: an elongatedhousing including an enlarged exit area having a peripheral flange lyingin a single vertical plane outlining said exit area and dimensioned toengage the periphery of said opening, said housing having a sloping rearwall extending from an upper portion of said peripheral flange toconnect to an end wall in turn connecting to the lower end of saidperipheral flange such that said housing defines an elongated triangularshape in cross section, said end wall including an entrance port facingupwardly, said exit area being substantially larger than the area ofsaid entrance port; a flexible flap member adapted to lie within saidhousing against said end wall in a position covering said entrance port,the periphery of said entrance port being overlapped by said flexibleflap member; means securing one edge portion of said flap member to saidhousing adjacent to the connection of said rear wall to said end wall sothat said flap member is free to swing towards said rear wall away fromsaid entrance port; and means for connecting a source of concrete underpressure to said entrance port whereby incoming concrete moves said flapmember away from said entrance port so that said concrete can passthrough said housing and out said exit area into the bottom of said formmeans in a stream directed by said sloping rear wall in an inward andupward direction.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 314,107 3/1885 Chappell 13725.7452,750 5/1891 Drury 25 l--152 X 468,141 2/1892 Tomlinson 137-360944,175 12/1909 Chasse 251152 X 1,536,869 5/1925 Kizer 137-515 X2,624,095 1/1953 Cummins 264-35 2,903,877 9/1959 Meade 26435 X WILLLIAMF. ODEA, Primary Examiner.

ISADOR WEIL, Examiner.

D. ZOBKIW, Assistant Examiner.

